Suffering is the major content of life, most of the serious or worthwhile thinkers begin here or with special consideration to it. I'm not trying to be emo or whatever, but I think it's true to say that most people's (outside perhaps an extremely lucky and certainly wealthy class of people) lives are divided between periods of slight discomfort (endless work, decaying body, etc.) and tragedy.
More than any sophistic discussion about the "meaning of life", the question about what to do about suffering is the truly profound and truly captivating question.
The Buddha says that suffering is a product of our craving. To escape samsara, one must become enlightened, which requires among many other things, a total destruction of ones craving and attachments. This is very attractive in some ways, a rejection of the expectation to serve capital, total unburdening of oneself to the fullest extent popular. I am interested in this, but I cannot abide Buddhist rejection of self (or rather I don't really understand the emptiness of the world aspect). I also like some of my desires and am reluctant to part with all of them.
Nietzsche starts in the same place as the Buddha, like his old teacher Schopenhauer, that to live is to suffer also. Nietzsche departs from them in his reaction. Instead of trying to escape suffering, Nietzsche embraces it as the crucible of greatness. Hurl yourself into the fire and come out a diamond. This is attractive too, who doesn't want to become their greatest self? This kind of thing sounds nice when you're a young man in a moderately prosperous country. Will the murdering in Gaza create some great men among the Arabs? I don't think endless suffering is worth the birth of the Ubermensch lol, but I do think there's value in some of his thoughts too.
Marx solves suffering by creating a more just and prosperous world. This doesn't stop the suffering inherent to living, but it is probably the best material solution available. The average person will never become a Buddhist sage or a Nietzschean overman. My caveat here is namely that I am lacking in faith in the great communist victory forseen by many leftists and others here. I suppose I'm just being small minded or what have you, but it seems that the only hope for some kind of meaningful communist victory lies with the chinese eventually supplanting the US as global hegemon. I am not opposed to this but like many here I am somewhat doubtful of China's suppos
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